@napalm_atx Thank you for your help and contribution to this forum as well as for the firmware repository you provide to all.
I have 5x WUH721818ALE6L4 (MFD AUG-2021) with factory firmware PCGNW232.
I purchased a sealed factory recertified WUH721818ALE6L4 (MFD SEP-2023) which arrived with factory firmware PCGNW870.
As per your previous posts, I succesfully upgraded the firmware of the older 5 ones to PCGNW870 to match with the one of the latest one I got.
Having seen the post from
@x7007 who had issues after upgrading PCGNW870, I have some questions:
1) I see there are 3 firmwares available, PCG
NW870, PCG
AW870 and PCG
AW
270. The later is the one provided in the WD website. Do you happen to know is the latest one?
2) Do you happen to know what may be the differences between each firmware?
3) Per my understanding, some firmware revisions may also have to do with the HDD PCB components or EEPROM.
So if a HDD arrives with factory firmware PCG
Nxxxx, then a PCG
Axxxx, cannot/should not be installed as it may brick the hard drive, correct?
But this theory doesn't justify the PCG
AW870 vs PCG
AW
270, unless 270 and 870 could also have another functional difference (if they have)...
Also,
@x7007 do you happen to use those drives in a Synology NAS? I know that Synology may have some issues with newer firmware revisions for the HGST/WDC Ultrastar drives:
Disclaimer from Synology for some models and WDC/HGST compatibility of 14+TB HDDs:
- To ensure compatibility, the hibernation function is disabled on this drive.
- Please note that the HDD/SSD firmware may be updated or modified by its manufacturer without prior notice. Synology can only ensure that the firmware listed is compatible with Synology products.